It is now commonplace for consumers (or customers or shoppers or buyers) to purchase goods or products from client-server based (or on-line or e-commerce or Internet-based) retailers (or merchants). A large number of retailers have set up Internet web sites where consumers can shop for the products (or items or goods) that are available for sale, purchase the products desired, and have the products delivered to them. These products may be tangible goods, such as groceries, books, CDs, DVDs, tools, clothes, footwear, health/beauty items, hardware, office supplies, pet care products, auto care products, industrial supplies, or any other tangible goods that are physically delivered to the customer, or “digital” goods, such as electronic books, music, movies/videos, application software, or any other digital product that is downloaded, copied, transmitted or otherwise electronically transferred to the customer.
For consumable products or products that require replacement on a periodic basis, e.g., groceries or other consumable products, some customers have begun to order such items from various merchants via the Internet and have the items delivered to the customer, in hopes of saving time and money. The merchant websites for ordering such items typically requires the customer to go through several different screens to order each item. For example, to buy milk, the customer may type in the word “milk” in a search field and the website provides a list of all products. The customer then scrolls through all the milk products to find the desired milk product to order. The customer may then click on an associated product link to view the product details to ensure it is the correct product, add the product to the cart, and then repeat the above steps again for the next desired product. This process can be inefficient and time consuming for the customer.
Therefore, among other potential problems, the current ordering techniques do not meet the needs of many customers desiring to reduce time spent ordering groceries or other items. Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a system or method for ordering items that overcomes the limitations and inefficiencies of the conventional approaches, that, among other potential benefits, makes it more convenient and efficient for the customer to place orders for products.